2024 is fully brewed: Let’s raise a cup to the gifts it gave us!
As we settle into 2025, it’s a great time to pause and reflect on the whirlwind that was 2024. From the moment we first rang in the new year to the very last sips of Ho Ho Mint Mocha® in our coffeehouses across the country, it’s was a BOUming, busy year….
We achieved, built and celebrated things in 2024 that brands don’t just get the chance to do every year, if very often—and the list is long. We opened new locations in several markets, welcomed new partners and team members, made exciting changes, brought in new technology and continued to make great strides in our commitment to our people, the environment and the communities where we make a difference.
2024 laid the groundwork for what’s ahead—a year where we’ll lean into our strengths, fine-tune our craft, and aim even higher. As we look to the future, let’s take a moment to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of the past year and get inspired for what’s to come.
Started big with an agreement with JDE Peet’s
Start the year as you mean to go—with exciting deals and really big news. In January 2024 we did just that, signing an agreement to license the Caribou Coffee brand in the consumer-packaged goods and foodservice channels to JDE Peet’s. What does that mean? More time and focus for our teams on managing and building our exceptional network of coffeehouses, and a nationally renowned partner who shares our love of quality to manufacture, market and sell our premium packaged goods and foodservice coffee products outside of our coffeehouse locations.
New locations and friends
We were busy opening new coffeehouses across the U.S. in new and existing markets through both company and franchisee-owned development, bringing handcrafted drinks and delicious food to even more communities in ten different states.
Most of the 2024 domestic development was focused on the Southeastern United States with two new store openings in Florida, three in Georgia and four in North Carolina, growing our presence in new towns and some places where there haven’t been new Caribou coffeehouses for over a decade.
Existing development deals with domestic franchisee partners mean we’ll be brewing up an even bigger footprint as the year unfolds. And through a recently expanded development agreement with current franchisees, similar coffeehouse development is expected internationally as we are already serving guests in 11 countries.
A toast to … Toast!
Back in February, we made moves to make the lives of our coffeehouse teams easier and more efficient. A new agreement with Toast, the digital technology platform built for restaurants, brought Toast tech to coffeehouse locations across the country. New, easy-to-use Toast point-of-sale (POS) terminals and payment systems now make taking guest orders and accepting payment a breeze.
Committed to communities and the planet
None of these advances would mean anything if we weren’t continuing to do whatever we can to support the communities where we operate here, near and far, as we say. Or if we weren’t committed to making changes to help the planet. And it’s a long list of achievements over the past year or so that we outlined in our third annual ESG Report.
This year, we also deepened our commitment to women in coffee by partnering with the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA). Ten percent of the proceeds from our special Amy’s Blend inspired by our original roastmaster, Amy Erickson, was donated to the IWCA to support its work to empower women in coffee and alleviate challenges of the industry, including climate change. We were proud to present a check to the IWCA at our annual national manager meeting in June.
As we look back on the year together there were a lot of investments, developments and change but the most satisfying thing of all is the steps toward progress we took together. Here’s to that journey continuing in 2025. Let’s raise a cup!
